USGP in Louisville

This past weekend was so much fun on so many different levels; racing at an incredible venue, seeing good friends, but most of all was three days of one-on-one quality time with my girl.

Friday morning with the car loaded up and my mom taking care of the boys for the weekend Deb and I hit the road for our first time visit to Louisville, KY for my first experience with a USGP 'cross race (Saturday and Sunday races). Pretty uneventful drive (especially S. Illinois) of 8 hrs until we pulled into downtown and picked up race number down on 4th Street Live. Over to the hotel and some chow before hitting the sack.

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Saturday morning I jumped up early and rode over to the course a couple times before heading back to the hotel to change up for my 9:30am start in the 2/3 race. The course was super fun and challenging (more from a power standpoint then from a technical one) with a little bit of everything requiring 100% focus. With our race only 40 minutes I wasn't looking forward to the ensuing pain as there would be no recovery with 100+ races.

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After a decent warmup and a good luck smooch from Deb it off to the starting grid where I run into Ross and Patrick (MWI teammates) and chit chat a little. I considered myself in an OK position getting a 4th row start. Gun goes off, pace shoots up (and never lets up), and find myself in the upper mix of the top 30 for the first lap. On the 2nd (of 4) lap I totally bit it on a barrier not lifting my stupid foot up high enough and I went flying face first to the ground. Regroup, back riding, and trying to shake it off (lasted about a 1/4 lap) then it was back to the pain cave. During the 3rd lap Ross catches up and immediately goes on the attack. I tried to hold his wheel on the open sections, but that kid is soooo freaking strong that it would take a couple technicals section for me to catch back on; this intensity benefited as we were distancing a bunch guys and catching some. Last lap I couldn't hold his pace and dropped off, but luckily didn't have anyone too close and was able to keep steady and ride in for 19th. TOTALLY EXHAUSTED!!!! Hardest effort of '11 by far.

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Warmed down before meeting up with Deb for a day of watching some incredible racing at a great venue. Deb is awesome and actually convinced me it was OK for us to hang out and watch Jeff in the 35+; crazy fast group. Had a fun day moving around the course and showing Deb different aspects of the course/race. We were both quite impressed with how easy the Pro's make it look.

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Later it was off to downtown for some eats at the Sports and Social Club before catching a show at The Improv (funny comedians). I was surprised how spent physically I was at the end of the night (and in the back of my head I was a little worried about Sunday's race).

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Sunday morning I skipped the early ride to get a little more sleep before heading to the venue with Deb around 8am. Took a cruise on the slightly altered course and my legs felt incredibly flat and heavy. Warmed up a little shorter than regular on the trainer (saving what I had left in my legs for the race).

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Back to the grid for a 3rd row start this time around. Race starts about the same as the day before and to my chagrin my legs are 100% under me and firing great. Moving comfortably in the 30's until I have to bail from the 'fast line' in the back corner sandpit when the guy ahead of me bobbles and immediately I lose 10 spots (in a blink of an eye). Recover mentally and get back to racing. Start moving through some groups and by the last lap Ross had caught me and he was flying so I jumped on the express. Going through the technical sections toward the end I let a guy slip between us and Ross was gone. I stuck on this guy onto the pavement and was able to time my sprint at the line to take 23rd (one spot behind RC) finishing way better than I expected during warm ups. Local KC guy Chris Hersey had a solid race and was with or near us for most of the race (always fun having familiar faces nearby).

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Jeff was on course and cheering (maybe heckling, I'm not sure) me on and took the below pics:

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Back to the hotel for a quick clean up then off on the road for the drive home. Deb and I stopped in STL for some Christmas shopping (and for me to stretch the legs). Got home around 8pm in time to put the boys to bed before the always brutal 'unpacking' and then hitting the hay.

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Great weekend with Deb and also racing. Looking forward to making L'ville a staple in the future.